Many Happy Returns
by lil7miss7sarcastic
Summary: An account of how the Non Judging Breakfast Club celebrated their birthdays over successive years.
1. Nate

This was the first time they had been properly drunk. Till now, it was only measured sips of champagne, wine (or scotch, in Chuck's case) at social gatherings. But this time they went wild with the hard alcohol Chuck had brought. After all, it was Nate's 14th birthday which was his 'transition to manhood', as Chuck put it.

It took 2 hours and 4 empty bottles for them to start enacting Romeo and Juliet. As usual Nate and Blair essayed the lead roles, with Chuck as Lord Paris and Serena as the evil maid.

"Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" Blair cried. Nate sprang out of nowhere. "I'm here!" he said, running in slow motion towards his beloved, only to have Chuck trip him.

Serena pushed a glass towards Blair. "Drink it up, Mistress. Don't worry; it's not poisonous or anything." Blair lifted it off the tray and finished the drink in one gulp.

"Oh no, I'm going to die!" she gasped dramatically, and fell into Chuck's arms, while Serena cackled madly.

Nate was on his feet again and immediately started dueling with Chuck with a rolled newspaper, Blair lying forgotten on the carpet. Chuck won the fight (Nate's senses had become dimmer than usual) and flung Nate's 'sword' at Serena, which unfurled and hit her right at the face. Serena shrieked and bumped into a vase, which went crashing onto the floor and broke into pieces.

Nate stared at the thousand tiny fragments lying on the floor. Then he looked up at his friends-Chuck, who was enjoying this, Blair (she was sitting up now) who was shocked, and Serena, who looked guilty.

"Don't' worry, its only Ming!" he slurred.

And the death scene of Juliet resumed.

* * *

"Can someone please switch off the light?" Blair whined, for the 100th time, from somewhere behind Chuck.

"You know what you should you get Nate?" Serena said, propping herself on one elbow, "One of those remote controls that practically control the house." Chuck voiced his agreement and Nate knew that he'd already made up his mind to buy one.

After finishing Romeo and Juliet, the foursome had decided to do Hamlet, with Nate searching for his father's murderer, Chuck trying to drown Blair in the river and Serena once again playing a maid, but this time, a loyal one. ("Why do I always get to play the maid?")

Head slightly spinning, Nate had collapsed on the rug after a particularly funny scene and had decided to stay there. Soon, the rest of the Non Judging Breakfast Club had followed.

Realizing that no one was probably going to do it, Blair got up and switched off the light. Now the room's only source of illumination was the moonlight filtering through the windows.

Nate exhaled lazily. He felt content. His throat was warm from the drinks and he felt a little fuzzy. He was sure that he would pay for this in the morning, but right now, he didn't care. His _bestest_ friends in the whole world were here with him.

Nate glanced to his left and saw Serena sleeping peacefully. She looked even more beautiful by moonlight. His drunken mind screamed at him to touch her and when he was about to brush off her hair obscuring her face, he felt movement by his side. He saw that Blair had switched places with Chuck and had now put her warm head on his arm. A moment passed, with Nate's arm still outstretched. Then he placed it down.

Nate sighed and closed his eyes.


	2. Serena

AN- Sorry for the long wait! hopefully this chapter will be good enough...

"Bye Serena, Happy Birthday once again!" a random person called out. Serena smiled at him, the brightness of which had decreased. She had expected something better from her friends, not just an everyday party where she didn't even know half of the guests, she thought morosely as she helped herself to a fruit punch.

"Great party, right?" Blair asked, sitting beside her. Chuck smirked in his drink.

"Um yeah…" Serena replied, looking at the violinists taking their exit.

"Wasn't it a _bit_ boring?" Nate took his seat beside the birthday girl. Serena thought that she saw the briefest hint of a frown flit across her best friend's face.

Chuck gave Nate a look, which he returned with a confused one. Blair fake-laughed, "Oh, Nate! You find everything boring. For me, this was _the_ party of the year."

"Yeah, better than Carter Baizen's bash last month." Chuck piped up.

Serena narrowed her eyes. "What's going on Blair?"

"Nothing." But she was smiling. Blair was excited for something and Serena was _dying_ to know what it was about. "You've got something else planned right?" Serena asked.

Blair nodded. "Did you really think that your 15th birthday would be a boring party?"

"Well, 5 minutes back I did."

"Come on up then." Blair led the way up the stairs to her room, with Chuck and Nate whispering behind. She opened the door with a flourish and Serena gasped. This was the _ultimate_ sleepover party.

A stack of DVDs (no Audrey Hepburn thankfully), a variety of fruit juices (Serena had made a temporary vow of abstinence), a customized Spin the Bottle setup, Twister, a karaoke machine and for some weird reason, a chocolate fountain, though Serena didn't mind it.

"I thought you would like the whole 'Back to Childhood' theme." Blair explained. Chuck coughed uncomfortably.

"I totally knew about all this," Nate declared.

"Yeah you did," Chuck rolled his eyes. Serena grinned. Telling Nate about this plan would only have resulted in ruining the surprise.

Then smiling even more widely, she gushed, "This is amazing guys!" She felt a sudden rush of affection for all of them; Blair her _bestest_ friend in the world, absolutely obsessed with Nate; Chuck, who sometimes would stare at Blair, when he thought no one was looking, and Nate. Nate who was right now running his hands through his golden hair, making it messy. Just the way Serena liked it.

Blair yanked Serena out of her reverie. _Literally_. "Come on!" she cried, tugging on her arm "Let's start with Charades."

And Serena knew that this was going to be the best party ever.

Drinking scotch alone, on a balcony, while a cool nighttime breeze was blowing, was one of the pleasures of life that Chuck thoroughly enjoyed. But he hadn't counted on Blair joining him.

"Give me some of that," she said, grabbing his flask and taking a swig. Just because Serena, in a fit of craziness, had decided to abstain from alcohol, didn't mean that the rest were going to do the same.

A few minutes passed. It might have been an hour for Chuck.

"Nate and Serena are acting all…giggly." Blair finally explained her presence, a little grumpily.

Chuck smirked. "Did I ever tell you that I like your choice of words?"

Blair smiled. "Remember when we were small, we used to stand on this balcony and play games?"

"And you declared that you wanted to own all of that," he replied, sweeping his hand over the New York skyline.

"And then you said that your dad already owned a part of it." Blair laughed.

"Now who's the one acting all 'giggly'?"

"Sorry. I just remembered how cute you looked when you said that." Chuck frowned at her and she stopped. A moment passed and she started giggling again. Chuck allowed himself a smile as he looked at her. He doubted whether anyone had ever seen Blair like this.

Blair took a deep breath and looked out. "It's just that we were so stupid and carefree back then. We never had any worries. Now things are different." Chuck became a trifled alarmed at her sudden melancholiness.

"Let's go back inside" he suggested.

Blair didn't respond.

Now absolutely convinced that something was in the air, Chuck forcibly steered her towards her room. As soon as Chuck entered, he stopped short at what he saw-Serena and Nate sleeping on the bed. Nate's arms around Serena.

_Shit_, he thought.

Chuck looked back at Blair. Her face was expressionless. Without a word, she snatched a pillow from the bed and proceeded towards the sofa near the window. A split second later Chuck followed her and sat down on the floor, not before clearing away a few empty bottles.

Blair was looking out of the window, deep in thought. "You know, I kind of expected it. I'm not dumb. I've seen the way he looks at her."

Chuck felt it tactful not to respond, but apparently Blair needed his reply as she looked at him questionably. Chuck cleared his throat. "Nate is an idiot." He finally declared.

She frowned. "You don't have to say that." Chuck hated this line-it gave him no clue what to say next.

"All I mean is that if Nate weren't my best friend, you would have been in my bed a long time ago," he ventured, smirking slightly.

"And _that_ is supposed to make me feel better?" but she was smiling and Chuck felt relieved.

"So…what are you going to do now?" he asked, when he thought it safe to do so. _Or not_. Chuck already regretted asking her as all traces of her previous smile vanished.

"What do you mean?" Blair asked coldly.

"What are you going to do about this? Surely you can't-"

"Its none of your business!" she snapped. "Why do you care anyways?"

"Because…because this is stupid!" Chuck whispered. "How can you just stand there and suffer like this?"

There was silence on Blair's end and Chuck knew that he'd gone too far.

"Goodnight Chuck" Blair said frostily, turning over, leaving Chuck to stare at her back.

Serena jerked awake and for a minute was confused about her whereabouts, but she smiled as she recognized the mess on the floor. She looked out-the sun was just on its way up.

She felt something warm on her side and saw Nate's head sticking into her back. A fond smile graced her features as she noticed the slight but adorable frown on his face. It was at times like this that Serena envied Blair.

_Speaking of Blair_, she wondered as she glanced to her right and saw Blair huddled on the couch and Chuck apparently passed out on the floor.

Sudden guilt wrenched Serena's heart. _Blair must have seen me and Nate sleeping like this and so had gone to sleep separately_. Serena was very aware of the fact that this was the first time the foursome had not slept on the same bed after a sleepover.

Unhappily, she rested her head on the wall and sat like that for some time, thinking. Finally Serena made up her mind.

She loved her best friend and her best friend was in love with Nate. So Serena should…do what she can for her best friend.

This thought made Serena want to dive deep into the covers and stay there forever. She did just that, not before shifting to the extreme end of the bed, away from Nate.

She lay down on the pillow and thought of Nate. Then Blair.

Serena sighed and closed her eyes.


	3. Chuck

**Finally my extremely important exams have ended. Now I have nothing but free time. I have many stories written in my book from the times I was supposed to be 'studying' or 'taking notes', so hopefully there will be more updates in the future.**

* * *

Throughout the 15 years of his life, Chuck Bass had never celebrated his birthday. Maybe it was because Bart Bass had only thrown a party for adults on his son's first birthday or maybe it was because Chuck never bothered or cared since that time, or maybe it was because in their group, Chuck was usually sidelined, which was something he preferred.

But now with Serena's abrupt departure, Blair felt the need to persuade Chuck to celebrate his birthday with his friends. She owed him that much at least.

"Hi Nate!"

"Hey Blair. Do you mind calling me later? Practice is just starting."

Blair sighed inaudibly.

"I just wanted to ask you something…um, does Chuck ever do anything on his birthday? Whenever I call him, he's holed up in his suite drinking away to glory."

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Because his 16th birthday is tomorrow and I think we should do something." She said, impatiently.

"I think it's wise we don't do anything." Nate said, "It's his mother. He blames himself for her death. So does his dad. Blame Chuck, I mean."

"What!"

"Wait, you didn't know?"

"I knew that his mother had died in childbirth," Blair snapped. " But I didn't know that he felt this way…"

"Okay, now you know?"

"Yes," she replied irritably. "You can go back to your 'practice' now." Thankfully Nate didn't get her sarcasm and hung up with a hasty goodbye.

Blair sat on her bed for some time, her phone still in her hand. She couldn't believe what Chuck had been going through every year on his birthday. She couldn't believe that Nate had taken it so lightly. She couldn't believe that she hadn't been there for him and the most she had done all these years was call and wish him on the phone.

Suddenly Blair felt very guilty. After her parents' divorce and Serena's shift to boarding school, Blair was left alone. But Chuck had come to check on her and they had spent the rest 2-3 days together, watching her favorite movies, and he hadn't complained at all.

Blair felt the familiar sense of sadness and anger whenever she thought about Serena. She wondered what the tall blonde was doing right now. Probably bunking classes and partying, she thought. Serena would have been excited for Chuck's birthday. They would have had fun together, shopping for his present.

Blair smiled slightly; she missed her best friend.

* * *

"Happy birthday to me," Chuck said, pouring out scotch. He glanced at his Blackberry. Blair usually called in the morning but this time she hadn't. Probably too busy with her life, he thought. Anyways Chuck Bass is not supposed to care.

He heard loud knocking on the door and sighed, wondering who it was. "Come in." he said aloud, and to his surprise, a smiling Blair and an uncomfortable Nate entered.

"Nathaniel, Waldorf, I wasn't expecting any of you here." Chuck said, in a carefully-constructed disinterested tone.

"Happy birthday Chuck!" Blair exclaimed. Then she did something that she'd never done before-she hugged him. Chuck blinked in astonishment.

"Um…thanks?" He breathed in the scent of her hair.

"Yeah, happy birthday, mate." Nate clapped him on the shoulder. It was the most affectionate thing that Nate had ever done to him.

"We got presents." Blair said, handing him two gift-wrapped boxes.

"This wasn't my idea," Nate whispered to Chuck, who rolled his eyes.

Blair glared at her boyfriend. "Shut up, Nate." She hissed. Chuck raised his eyebrows. "Did the golden couple have a fight or something?"

"Of course not!" she smiled. It was one of her society smiles, but Chuck didn't say anything. Instead he opened his presents. Blair had given him a scarf and a cigarette lighter, while Nate's gift was a bottle of cologne. Chuck was pleasantly surprised that Nate knew the brand that he used.

"Come on, we ordered a cake too!"

"What! No way…"

Blair nodded. "It should be coming now." As if it was waiting for Blair, the doorbell rang. "Wow, punctual room service!" Nate got the cake in and put it on the table, offering Chuck an embarrassed smile.

"Chuck I know what you're thinking," the brunette said knowingly, noticing the look on his face, "but I also know that you actually like doing this."

Chuck couldn't help but smile. Blair was correct, as usual. After all, she had this weird habit of getting everything right about him.

* * *

Nate stifled a yawn. He'd already forgotten the name of the movie they were watching. Blair hadn't though, and she was sitting next to him, engrossed. Nate was sure that Chuck was only pretending to be interested for her sake. It was weird how she brought out the best in him.

He thought of Blair, his control freak of a girlfriend. Sure, he loved her (or maybe he thought he did), but sometimes he caught himself thinking that her hair and eyes were too dark, her stature too short. Nate thought about Serena, who had run away without telling anyone, without telling him. He was hurt, not only because she wasn't here, also because it seemed as if that she was ashamed of what had happened. Nate frowned, wondering whether something else had made Serena leave.

"Pass the champagne," Chuck murmured. Nate jumped. Chuck gave him an odd look and then his eyes widened as if he understood something. But he couldn't have, Nate thought, panicking a little.

"You know, I think I'll get another barstool for the suite." Chuck said deviously.

Blair glared at him. "Random much? I'm trying to watch a movie here."

"Yeah…a barstool will be a perfect addition," he continued loudly. Nate was positively seething now. How the hell did Chuck know? "Go to sleep Chuck." he told him.

"Yeah," Blair agreed, "just because it's your birthday doesn't mean that we have to be nice to you."

"Wow. That hurts." Blair rolled her eyes and continued watching the movie. Nate sent Chuck a look, but he only smirked. Nate would sort him out later, knowing that Chuck wouldn't tell his girlfriend anything. They were best friends.

"Pass the champagne, please." Chuck insisted.

"Just give him the champagne already." Nate said. Blair huffed in annoyance and slammed the bottle in Chuck's lap. He laughed softly.

It was then that Nate noticed that Chuck's arm was casually slung around Blair.

At that time, he didn't think that it meant anything. After all, how could anything ever happen between Chuck and Blair?

* * *

"Is the movie over?" Chuck asked, "Thank god."

Blair laughed. "Don't pretend that you didn't like it."

Chuck smiled. "What's so funny?" she asked. Chuck pointed at Nate. "Doesn't he look adorable when he drools?"

Blair rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he does." She said, a little irritably.

"So did you two…?" he raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"No," she sighed. "After, um, Serena left, he has been acting weirdly. Far away and distant."

"That's Nate." Chuck grinned.

"Call me paranoid, but sometimes I think that something happened between them."

Chuck squirmed uncomfortably.

Blair turned sharply, but he put on his best poker face. After a while she said, "Maybe I _am_ being paranoid."

"So… are you going to stay here or what?"

Blair smiled. "Are you trying to kick me out?"

"No, I'm just asking."

"Since Nate is drooling all over your sofa, I guess I'll stay." She said.

"Hmm…" and they both fell into deep thoughts of their own. Blair broke the silence first. "Aren't you going to thank me?"

"For what?"

"For planning this whole thing! You know, Nate was just going to give you a card. An _e-card_."

"Okay…" Chuck said, "Thank you."

"Thanks to you too."

"Now why are _you_ thanking me?"

"For being there, when I was, um, not well."

Chuck nodded, a little uncomfortable. He still hadn't gotten over the fact that the perfect Blair Waldorf had become so weak that she had resorted to purging after every meal during that trying period. He changed the subject and they started talking about the recent time they'd teamed up for a takedown. Chuck stopped when he noticed Blair nodding off during a lapse in the conversation. He watched his best friend and his girlfriend sleeping on the couch. They looked perfect together, but somehow wrong to him.

He thought about Serena, the missing 'It' girl he wouldn't hesitate to sleep with; Nate, his sleepy-headed friend stuck between a brunette and a blond; and Blair. Blair who hadn't forgotten him on his birthday. He tried unsuccessfully not to think about how she looked when she'd thanked him. He was Chuck Bass,, and he wasn't supposed to think or feel this way. There was only one thing left to do then.

Chuck sighed and closed his eyes.

* * *

**So did you like it? Frankly, I didn't like it that much.**

**Reviews please!**

**Next up, Blair's 17th birthday ;-)**


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